


Take my hand and we will shine

by frenchkiss



Category: Little Mix (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-21 03:18:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4812950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frenchkiss/pseuds/frenchkiss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Perrie doesn't think she's ever going to find her soulmate, what with her being in a world famous girlband and all. Lucky for her, fate has other ideas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take my hand and we will shine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [avaar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/avaar/gifts).



> Hiiiii velvet_tuberose!! i'm so sorry this was later than planned and i hope it's what you wanted when you said soulmates with a twist!! it's a little different to anything i've written before, but i looooved all your prompts and i hope you love this as much as I loved writing it!!
> 
> (major huge thank you to J for betaing this at lightening speed!!)

Perrie hates this soulmate _bullshit_ with a passion.

It’s not that she doesn’t _get_ it, because she does. Sort of. Her experience with the whole concept has always been fairly positive. When she and her best friend Katherine were sixteen, the thought of finding their soulmates was the most exciting thing ever, and then three weeks later Katherine _did._ Her necklace had started burning one lunchtime when they were in a McDonald’s in central Newcastle, and before Perrie really had time to work out what was going on there was a nervous lad approaching their table, hand visibly shaking as he reached out to put a tentative hand on her shoulder.

“Are you K?” he stammered, looking positively terrified. Katherine had nodded, eyes wide and shiny with tears, and the next thing Perrie knew they w re locked in a tight embrace and her nuggets had been knocked to the floor.

The necklaces you get given at the age of twelve don’t give you much to go on. It’s a simple round circle with an initial in the middle, with a tiny gem above it that emulates the colour of your soulmate’s eyes. Both Perrie and Katherine had cursive Js on theirs, but while Katherine’s had also had a bright blue gemstone, Perrie’s was a rich, chocolate brown.

The way Katherine and Josh had met was not uncommon. Before Perrie had gotten famous and was allowed to walk down a high street without being flanked by security, she remembers seeing instances of people just flinging themselves into each other’s arms and sobbing. People would barely spare them a second glance, because that’s the wonderful thing about soulmates. Everybody has one. It’s not a big deal.

It only becomes a big deal if your soulmate is going to be difficult to find.

There are hundreds of horror stories about people whose soulmates died, or ended up in prison, or who were deported or stranded or held up to the point where their paths just never crossed. There were also cases of people falling in love – or what they thought was love – with someone who wasn’t their soulmate. _That_ was always risky business.

“You don’t fuck with the universe,” Perrie’s mam had said to her when she was just shy of seventeen, bottle blonde and terrified that she was going to be alone forever now that both her brother and best mate had found their soulmates. “You’ll get there, hun, I know you will. You just can’t expect these things to happen overnight.”

She had sighed but held those words close to her chest. She was still holding them close a year later as she stood in the longest line of people she’d ever seen, clutching Katherine’s hand tightly as she moved closer to the front. On the other side, the opportunity to sing in front of Simon Cowell, to belt her little heart out and show him why she deserved the only thing she’d ever wanted since she was a little girl – the chance to sing.

Curiously enough, that’s where Perrie had her first personal encounter with the soulmate thing. In the crowd, hand trembling in her best mate’s, she felt her necklace start to pulse and warm up against her skin. It was only slight, and at first she ignored it and put it down to nerves, but after a while she realised that it was actually happening.

On _today_ of all days.

“Help me,” she hisses, pressing herself closer to Katherine. She’s trembling, her free hand curling and uncurling into a fist. Katherine pulls back, startled.

“Are you okay?” she questions. “Pez? Do you need to get outta here?”

“No,” Perrie shakes her head, then thrusts her chest forward a bit. “Feel my necklace.”

Katherine’s eyes grow wide and she reaches out to touch the charm, eyebrows shooting up to her hairline as she feels the heat of it. “Shit.”

“What the fuck do I do?” Perrie whines. Katherine looks just as panicked, shrugging disbelievingly with wide, nervous eyes. “Oh my gooood.”

“Next!” a voice suddenly calls. Perrie freezes and beside her Katherine squawks, both of them staring at the bored looking bloke in front of them who’s gesturing at Perrie to go through the door. She clutches at her necklace instinctively but then Katherine is shoving her forward gently and she has no choice but to put this soulmate business to the back of her mind.

She sings _You Oughta Know_ by Alanis Morisette and if she does say so herself, she fucking smashes it. Her cheeks hurt from how wide she’s smiling at the praise from Kelly fucking Rowland, and even though it’s a bit embarrassing that Tulisa and Louis end up bickering and Louis almost not letting her through entirely, she makes it. She’s through.

She’s _elated._ She doesn’t even think about the soulmate thing because she’s too busy being engulfed in the biggest hug by her mum as she runs off stage and into her arms. Katherine and her brother are right behind them, and she gives them each a hug in turn before she skips off to the bathroom, just needing a moment to herself.

It’s only as she comes out that her necklace starts to heat up again. It’s not as strong as it was in the queue but it’s definitely there. She curls her hand around it protectively as she spins around, but she can’t make out anyone specific. It’s all just families or groups of people who look uninterested or stressed, and she wonders if her soulmate could really be here or if they’ve left already. She wonders if their necklace heated up or if they’re sparing a thought to her at all. It just doesn’t seem _right,_ because she doesn’t want today to be about her finding her soulmate, as much as she wants to find them. She wants today to be about _her,_ to be about her successes and about what she’s worked for since she was about nine years old. For some reason, the thought of finding them on her own is terrifying as well, and as daft as it is she wants Katherine or her mum or someone with her when it happens.

She pushes it to the back of her mind and hurries back to her family and friend, then makes them rush to get out of there, claiming she’s so hungry she will positively _die_ if she doesn’t get a KFC in her soon. It works, because that kind of want is nothing out of the ordinary for her, and pretty soon she’s in the car with a Boneless Banquet and any soulmate worries pushed to the back of her mind.

She forgets about it more easily than she perhaps should, and it’s only later when she and Katherine are pressed close together in her rickety single bed that Katherine brings it up.

“Hey,” she murmurs, propping herself up on her elbows so she can look down the bed. Now they’re a little older they tend to sleep top and tail rather than in each other’s chubby little arms like when they were younger. “I was thinking, you know, about all this.”

“’Bout what?” Perrie yawns. “About me maybe getting proper famous?”

“Yeah, that,” Katherine smirks. “But also about your necklace.”

Perrie props herself up on her elbows and glares at her down the bed. “You didn’t tell Mam, did you?”

“No,” Katherine replies haughtily. “That ain’t my place. But it did get me t’thinking, what if it wasn’t a meet? What if you had a Crossing of Paths?”

Perrie opens her mouth to say something, but cuts herself off as she lets the idea wash over her. _That_ actually does make sense. It’s not something she knows a lot about, but it’s also not uncommon. It’s actually most commonly heard about in students or office workers, whose necklace heats up when they’re walking down certain corridors or in the cafeteria for lunch, but they don’t actually come face to face with their soulmate until sometime later. She’s not actually heard of it happening outside of that context though.

“Don’t fuck with the universe,” she whispers into the pale darkness, and Katherine snorts and tickles her foot. “Hey!”

“You’re a big ol’ sop,” Katherine laughs. “But isn’t that _cool,_ Pez? Not many people get a Crossing of Paths?”

“It is cool,” Perrie agrees, flopping back down against her pillows and grinning to herself. “It’s mad, Kath. I have a _soulmate._ ”

“We all do, you daft bint,” Katherine giggles. “That’s the whole point of the universe.”

Perrie falls to sleep that night with a grin on her face, dreaming of brown eyes and what it might be like to one day fall asleep with her arms around another person.

The person who she loves the most.

Her _soulmate._

*

Time moves swiftly on when you’re in a successful, world-famous girlband, apparently. A lot faster than Perrie was truly prepared for, if she’s honest. It’s been four years since her audition, just under that since she was put in a girlband with two of the best girls she’s ever known, and three years and six months since the three of them stood up on stage only to be told that they had won the X Factor.

They call themselves Little Mix, and in the time between their win and now they’ve sold a record number of singles and more albums than Perrie ever dreamed of. They’d toured Europe and America, performed at countless gigs and festivals and on TV shows she used to spend her Saturday nights watching, and they even got to release the charity single for Sport Relief and got the opportunity to go to Liberia to meet some of the children first hand. It was hands down one of the best but most harrowing experiences of Perrie’s career to date, but like most other things she wouldn’t change it for the world.

She honestly loves her life, and she’s well aware that on top of finding everything she’s ever wanted in terms of success, of fame, and of wealth (being able to buy herself a gorgeous house in London without even really having to think about the cost was the absolute icing on the cake, to be honest). She’s got best friends for life in Jade and Leigh, and she would be so lost without them. When she thinks about life without her girls, she’s never been more grateful that she got put through as a band member rather than as a solo artist.

There’s just one little tiny _weeny_ little catch.

Leigh-Anne and Jade turned out to be soulmates.

At the beginning that hadn’t felt like much of an issue. They made it clear to both Perrie and their team that this wasn’t going to affect much on tour, and to be fair to them it didn’t. They let Perrie sleep in their bed and curl up with them on the sofa of the tour bus. They spent time together as a three almost constantly and Perrie had to admit they never made her feel like a third wheel. They were very good and careful about that. Perrie loved them so fiercely and she also loved _their_ love, because ultimately they were friends and bandmates as well as lovers, and they could share everything together. They were beautiful and solid and so in love that sometimes Perrie would _ache_ with want for something like theirs.

After four years, she didn’t resent them, not at all. But she was a little envious, and she did often wonder whether they wanted her there all the time. The thing is, their love had come so easily, like Jonnie’s and Katherine’s and seemingly everyone around her. But she was still single, going home alone to a huge empty home (except her mum was usually there to greet her. Her mum was the best), while Leigh-Anne and Jade returned to their own huge house together. Without her. Where they could run around naked and have sex and be completely a couple without Perrie getting in the way. It wasn’t an easy thing to think about.

Tour was long and she’s absolutely shattered when she gets home from the airport. She’s said goodbye to Leigh and Jade and the rest of the team, because she does love all of them, but she is _so_ excited for some time on her own. They’ve got one last concert at the O2 and then they’re done with this tour, but she isn’t too worried about that. At least she’ll get to sleep in her own bed that night rather than on a lumpy hotel mattress or the rickety tourbus bunks.

Her driver takes her home and she ruffles his hair goodbye, then hauls her holdall and suitcase into the foyer of her mansion (she doesn’t like calling it that, not really, but there’s no denying that’s what it is).

“Mam?” she calls, then hears a crash coming from the kitchen. Definitely her mam. “Mam, I’m back!”

Debbie emerges, arms stretched wide. There are oven gloves on her hands and she’s beaming. Perrie wastes no time in stumbling into her arms. “My lovely Pezza,” she croons, kissing Perrie’s head all over. “How was your flight, love?”

“Not bad,” Perrie sighs, so happy to be back home and in familiar territory. “Bit of trublence but nothing I couldn’t handle. Are you cooking?”

Debbie pulls back and nods, covering Perrie’s hot cheeks with her gloved hands. “Aye. Got mince and dumplings cooking away for you. Thought you’d want something proper Geordie and lovely to come back to.”

Perrie beams. “You’re the best, Mam.” She pulls out of her hug and starts to tug her hair up into a ponytail. “Mind if I shower first?”

Her Mam shrugs. “Feel free. Gonna be about another half hour anyway.”

“Thanks!” Perrie calls, then lugs her suitcase towards the stairs. She dumps it in her bedroom unceremoniously and then grabs a towel from the airing cupboard, then turns on her power shower to all her favourite settings and turns up the volume on her iPhone so the Spice Girls echoes off the bathroom walls.

“Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want!” she sings away to herself as she shampoos her hair and shaves her legs. “I wanna really really really wanna zigazagaaaaa!” It’s glorious being home, it truly is, because not only can she sing like this, unabashed and loud as she wants, but she’s got all her home comforts. She’s got her favourite soap, her favourite towels, her favourite cushions on her waterbed. _Glorious._

She steps out the shower and wraps her hair and body up in towels, then wanders through to her bedroom where she finds Prada curled up on her bed, purring away happily. She squeals happily and hurries over to her, scooping the little cat up in her arms and nuzzling her nose into soft fur. “Pradyyy!”

Prada purrs and licks her nose. She can’t help but giggle, then lets her drop back onto the mattress, where she curls back up into her old position. Eager to find the rest of her zoo, she pulls on a pair of leggings and a ratty old top that she thinks is actually Leigh’s, she leaves her hair damp and loose and scurries barefoot back downstairs.

In the kitchen, her mum is singing away to something on the radio, and Teddy and Hatchi are yapping away too. Perrie grins and then bends down to scratch at Teddy’s ears. Hatchi barks and scurries over to her, eager for some attention from his owner after so long. Perrie scoops him up and lets herself topple back against the kitchen floor, laughing as Hatchi licks at her face.

“Missed… you… missed… _you,_ ” she cackles, scrunching her nose up and brushing it against the puppy’s. “Man, I wish I could take me little scamps on tour with me.”

Her mum stares down at her with raised eyebrows. “Not a chance,” she tuts. “You’d lose one of them.”

Perrie pulls a face. “Not on _purpose…_ ”

Her mum rolls her eyes. “Come on, up with ya. Dinner’s just about ready.”

Perrie watches gleefully as her mum loads an obscene amount of mince into a bowl for her, then drops three huge, stodgy dumplings on top. She takes a seat at the kitchen table and eagerly starts to dig in the second it’s put down in front of her, groaning happily as the sweet, oniony taste hits her tongue.

“Good?” Debbie asks knowingly, bringing her own portion over to the table. Perrie nods and shovels in another huge forkful, using the back of her wrist to mop up some escaped gravy from her chin. “Oh, Perrie, behave.”

“Mam,” Perrie whines petulantly. “Let me eat how I want in my own home. I’ve gone sooo long without your cooking, I just wanna enjoy it!”

Her mum’s face softens. “I know, I know, that’s true. God, I have missed you. Cooking for you and stuff. I feel a bit lost when you and Jonnie ain’t around.”

Perrie offers her a small smile. “I miss it too. Come on tour with us next time, you can cook for all of us.”

“Nah, I’d ruin your street cred,” her mum laughs. “But thanks for the offer.”

Perrie doesn’t say anything else, just pokes her fork at her dumplings to try and break them up. She isn’t sure why that feels like a horrible rejection, but it does. Her mum seems to pick up on it too, because she frowns.

“Hey,” she murmurs. “Was tour that bad that you want your old mum there getting in the way?”

“No,” Perrie mumbles. “It wasn’t bad at all.”

“ _Hey,_ ” Debbie says, nudging Perrie’s leg with her toes under the table. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“ _Nothing,_ ” Perrie insists. “I’m just tired, honestly.”

“Rubbish,” her mum says dryly. She hesitates before asking, “you and the girls are alright, aren’t ya?”

“’Course,” Perrie says, stabbing at her food rather too aggressively. “Why wouldn’t we be?” Her mum doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, but when Perrie looks up she sees her just staring at her sadly. “What?” she snaps.

Her mum sets down her fork. “Is it because of the soulmate thing?”

Perrie chokes on a gulp of water. “ _What?_ ”

Her mum shrugs. “I mean, I know you adore Leigh and Jade to the moon and back but it can’t be easy, babe. I know how much you want a soulmate…”

“Mam,” Perrie cuts her off firmly. “No.”

“Pez, I ain’t blind…”

“I’m just tired,” she says firmly, shovelling in another huge mouthful of food so she doesn’t say something snappish that she might regret. “It’s not that big of a deal, Mam, honestly, you’re…”

“I’m your mother and I know you better than you think I do,” Debbie finishes. She sighs. “Look, babe, I know it can’t be easy watching your best friends be in love like they are when you aren’t but I swear to you that your time will come.”

Perrie pouts into her dinner. “Mam, I promise, I don’t caaare…”

“Oh shut up,” Debbie snorts, kicking her gently in the shins. “You’re fooling no-one, darling. But what am I always telling you?”

Perrie lets out a long sigh. “Don’t fuck with the universe.”

“That’s right,” her mum says brightly. “Honestly, love, you have a _soulmate._ You’re fated for each other. You’ll get there.”

Perrie slumps in her seat. “I know, I know that.”

“Chin up, baby,” Debbie encourages. “It’s probably not long coming, you know. I have a feeling…”

“Yeah, well, it probably is,” Perrie interrupts. “Because how the bloody hell am I meant to meet someone doing this job? Do you know the last time I had a conversation with someone new because I wanted to? I see the same people every day, Mam, and none of them are my soulmate. So unless my soulmate is something like an interviewer or a camera operator, or one of these fuckin’ interns that brings us tea for all I know…”

“Hey,” Debbie interrupts loudly, then reaches forward to snatch up Perrie’s hand. “Hey, listen to your old mum a second.” Perrie shuts up. “Don’t fuck with the universe, darling. The universe has a plan for ya, and it’s gonna involve your soulmate in one way or another, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Perrie mumbles after a second. “Yeah, alright.”

Her mum squeezes her hand again. “Alright indeed. Your soulmate is out there and they’re probably wonderful, and also probably wondering the exact same thing that you are. Think about it from their side too. What’s it gonna be like finding out that their soulmate is a mega famous pop star?”

Perrie has to crack a smile at that. “’m not mega famous.”

“You’re up there,” Debbie says airily. “Hey, chin up, chick. Do you want some ice cream? I’ve got Bake Off all recorded for you too. Wanna watch that and forget all about this?”

Perrie snorts. “Always.” She pouts. “Bet you know who wins, don’t you?”

Her mother’s face is the picture of innocence. “’Course not.”

Perrie’s eyes narrow, but she’s grinning. She scrapes up the last of her dinner and tosses her fork onto the table, and makes herself focus on the evening at hand rather than any soulmate worries.

*

After a few days at home she’s already restless, and super keen to get back on stage tonight for their concert at the O2. She’s had a lovely time with her mum, and her brother and his soulmate Alice even came down for a few days and they’d all gone out, but she’s not used to being apart from her girls for this long and it’s starting to take its toll.

The second the three of them spot each other in the backstage area they plummet into each other’s arms. Perrie buries her face into Leigh’s neck and clings, squeezing her tight around her slim waist while the other curls around Jade’s shoulders. There’s probably too much squealing and giggling but frankly Perrie couldn’t care less, because despite any reservations she was having at the end of the tour she quite honestly doesn’t want to leave them ever again.

“Missed your face,” Jade tells her, smacking a loud kiss into her cheek. “Have you had a good week?”

“Lovely, thanks,” Perrie grins, resting her head on Leigh’s shoulder. “Caught up with Mam and Jonnie and that. You?”

Jade shrugs. “Pretty much the same. Saw the fam and that.”

“Didn’t leave bed for a couple of days,” Leigh adds, winking. Jade squeaks and shakes her long hair into her face, but Perrie just cackles with them. She’s fucking missed them, innuendos and all. “What? You weren’t complaining at the time, babe.”

Jade pouts and pretends to walk off, but before either of them can snatch her back they’re called in for hair and make-up. Perrie giggles and makes jokes with Aaron and Sam and all the people she didn’t realise she would miss so much even after only six days, and forty-five minutes later she’s all glitzed and glamorous, wearing a snug black crop top and fringed white shorts. Her hair is styled in a super-high ponytail and she’s got dark eyes and a vampy, deep purple lip. She looks and feels gorgeous and after several twirls and some mirror selfies with Aaron, she’s shooed towards the stage door.

The opening beat to _Black Magic_ starts up over the huge speakers and the three of them get into their usual formation, hands outstretched and backs straight. Perrie shoots them both a quick wink as their platform starts to rise up slowly, and then the lights in the arena shoot up and they shoot into action.

“All the girls on the block knocking at my door!” she belts into her microphone, getting into position and moving her body to the beat of the music. “Wanna know what it is make the boys want more, HEY!”

She launches into her solo, and then Jade joins her and before she knows it they’re halfway through the set. She loves this bit because they get to go down the catwalk a bit and see the audience a bit clearer, read some of their signs and sometimes even interact with them. Nothing quite makes her smile than seeing a happy fan get even happier because she’s acknowledged their sign or waved at them.

It’s one of the many things she can’t quite believe about this life.

It happens just as Leigh is finishing up her solo in _Madhouse_ and Perrie opens her mouth, ready to sing, when she freezes. Her necklace is burning, burning hotter than anything she’s ever felt, and she’s suddenly terrified. She grips the charm tightly, panicked, but it’s warming rather than painful. The music is still playing overhead but suddenly there’s a hand on her shoulder and she jumps, then spins to find Jade, who looks awfully concerned.

“I…” she says, forgoing her microphone. It comes out rather strangled. “They’re here, Jade. They…”

Jade’s brows are furrowed in confusion, and somewhere behind her she’s vaguely aware of Leigh calling something to the crowd. She shakes her necklace in her fist a little and Jade twigs, mouth dropping open before her hand comes up to cover it. Perrie shakes her head rather frantically, completely struck dumb, but before she knows what’s happening Jade is raising her microphone back up to her lips.

“Stop the music!”

Perrie’s eyes go even wider and she spins around wildly, mouth hanging open in what is probably a rather unattractive manner, not that she cares right now.

“We have had a rather surprising turn of events here tonight, ladies and gentlemen,” Jade continues, wrapping a solid arm around Perrie’s trembling frame and squeezing. Leigh skips back over and does the same, though she looks mightily confused. Perrie’s never been more grateful for the pair of them in her _life._ “Our Perrie here seems to have found her soulmate!”

Perrie feels Leigh’s gasp more than she hears it, because the sound of the crowd is almost deafening. She feels tears prick at her eyes and her cheeks burn, and without thinking she forces herself into Jade’s arms, forcing herself to take deep breaths so she doesn’t cry in front of this many people.

 _This many people._ Because how the _fuck_ is she meant to find her soulmate when there’s a crowd of twenty thousand people out there? There’s no _way,_ no way in hell she’s going to find them this way, and she feels sick with it.

“Hey,” she hears Leigh say, but not up close like she’s expecting. She’s talking into her microphone, so Perrie slowly and carefully pulls herself ever so slightly out of Jade’s embrace to look at her. “Perrie, babe, come on. We’re finding your soulmate, come here.”

With a deep breath and more reluctance than she’d care to admit, Perrie takes Leigh’s extended hand and gingerly steps forward. Leigh wraps an arm around her shoulders again, which she’s incredibly grateful for because her legs just don’t stop shaking, and kisses her cheek.

“Pez, do you wanna try calling out what’s on your necklace?” Jade says into her mic, before appearing at Perrie’s side once more. Perrie bites her lip and doesn’t say anything. “Perrie. Babe. Come on now, it’s okay.”

“Everyone quiet!” Leigh shouts, waving her hands in a silencing motion. “We’ve got a soulmate to find!”

Perrie doesn’t realise how much she’s trembling until she starts to raise her mic up to her mouth. It’ll be a wonder if she doesn’t vomit everywhere, she thinks to herself, because she’s absolutely not ready but this is it. She’s about to meet her soulmate.

“U-um,” she gets out, her voice quivering so violently that Leigh squeezes her extra tight, as if to anchor her. She could _cry._ “Ummm, m-my letter i-is a J and t-they have b-brown eyes.”

“Like, a proper deep brown,” Leigh says as Jade picks up Perrie’s warm necklace between her fingers. “Almost, like, auburn.”

The crowd is screaming again, loud and obnoxious, and it’s stifling in a way it’s never been before. Before she even realises she’s doing it Perrie’s breaking out of Jade and Leigh’s hold and dashing out of there, hurrying towards the stage door where she runs straight into Aaron’s arms.

“Babe,” he says loudly, crushing her tightly against his chest. “What the bloody hell is going on? Have you really…?”

Perrie cuts him off with a sob. She doesn’t even know why she’s crying but everything is _so much,_ and she’s scared and panicked and she feels humiliated in front of all those people. She wants her girls and she wants her mum, but most of all she wants to know if she’s even going to find her soulmate amongst that huge crowd that were all screaming her name.

“Perrie, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” someone calls from behind her. She jolts and turns reluctantly to see Marcus, one of their management team, looking positively murderous. “Get back on stage!”

“Hey, give her a minute,” Aaron says indignantly. “She’s just had something pretty big happen to her.”

“Yeah, but she’s also got a show to put on,” Marcus snaps. “Perrie, come on. Move it.”

“One minute,” she sniffs, stamping her foot. “I’ll go back out, just… just let me…”

“Look, you can find your soulmate after,” Marcus says through gritted teeth. “Though you shouldn’t have bolted, Perrie, that doesn’t look good.”

“Will you just let me _breathe_ a second?” she growls, spinning on her heel. “And I think I’ll find them now, please. I don’t want to fuck with the universe.”

Marcus rolls his eyes. “And how, pray tell, are you going to find them now?” he drawls. “Invite them up on stage?”

Perrie crosses her arms and stands firm. “I guess so.”

Now Marcus just looks mightily pissed off. “And tell me, how are you going to be able to distinguish between your real soulmate and those who are crawling towards the stage because they think they’ve got a chance with a big ass popstar?”

Perrie’s mouth falls open, but thankfully Aaron steps in. “Because you fucking know who your soulmate is, you idiot,” he barks. “I met my soulmate in a crowded bar and we, like, just gravitated towards each other, you know?”

“There’s a bit of a fucking difference between a crowded bar and the O2 arena,” Marcus hisses. “Do we even have enough security for what you’re asking?”

“Find out,” Leigh’s voice says from somewhere to her left. Before she knows it, her two girls are by her side, arms linking through hers and standing firm. “Perrie deserves to find her soulmate, and if they’re here we’re getting them.”

“Yeah,” Jade adds, huddling closer to Perrie. “We’re not going back out there until you promise to help us find her soulmate.”

There’s no getting around it, and Perrie can’t help but feel a little smug as Marcus’s glare holds firm for all of three seconds before he realises he’s lost. “Fine,” he says curtly, throwing his hands in the air despairingly. “I’ll make sure the guards are on standby. So help me, you three, if you fuck this up…”

“Why would we let this get fucked up?” Jade asks incredulously. “Right, come on. Pez, you ready?”

“No,” Perrie says, a burst of nervous laughter following her words. “This is fucking crazy, you guys.”

“I know, babe,” Leigh says, before she slides her hand back into Perrie’s. “We got your back though. And you know what? It’s gonna be fucking amazing, babe. The love of your life is somewhere in that crowd.”

Jade’s hand works its way into Perrie’s other hand, swinging it lightly. “It’s the best feeling in the whole wide world, Pez. You’re gonna…”

“Oh my _god,_ will you three just get back on stage already?” Marcus shouts. “I don’t have time for this.” The girls take a slow step back in the direction of the stage and he turns on his heel, yanking his phone out his suit pocket and barking something into it about security measures, which is something, at least.

_The best feeling in the whole wide world._

_The love of your life is somewhere in that crowd._

“Perrie?” Leigh’s voice says suddenly, snapping her out of her reverie. “Babe, are you listening?”

“I… not really,” Perrie admits. Her stomach is twisting in tight knots, nerves pulsing through her like never before. Not even going on the X Factor was this scary. “What did you say?”

Leigh smiles at her sympathetically. “I just… what are you so afraid of, hun? I’ve never seen you look so scared in all the time I’ve known you.”

She’s not even sure how to answer that. Her breath catches and her eyes go wide, and Leigh just keeps looking at her with such worry that she kind of wants to cry. On her other side, Jade squeezes her hand again, a wonderful and familiar anchor. “I… I don’t know,” she admits, voice small. “I guess it’s, like, because I didn’t think it would happen like this. What… what if they hate me? What if they’re too intimidated to talk to me because I’m the big popstar on the stage?” She gulps. “What if nobody comes forward at all?”

“Pez, don’t be daft,” Jade scoffs. “They’re gonna fall in love with you, because everyone who meets you for the first time falls straight in love with you.” She smiles. “We sure did, didn’t we, babe?”

Leigh nods eagerly. “They’ll love you so much, darling. Come on now, we’ve gotta get back out there. You’re probably freaking your poor soulmate out, to be fair.”

Perrie hadn’t even thought of that. “Oh, fuck,” she groans. “What if they hate me now?”

 _“Perrie Edwards._ ”

“Alright,” she sighs. She grips both her girls tighter. “Don’t let go of my hands, alright?”

They both just squeeze her hands a little tighter, and with a deep sigh and a quick prayer to the universe, Perrie walks back out onto that stage.

The roar of the crowd is deafening, and it’s terrifying and intense and it would definitely be too much if she didn’t have her girls either side of her. Gulping, she drops Leigh’s hand reluctantly to accept a mic from one of the sounds then after a few deep breaths raises it up to her mouth. Her hand is still shaking, and so is her voice.

“Um,” she manages to get out before it merges into a nervous laugh. “Hi, again.”

The crowd whoop back, and Jade giggles into her own mic. “You can’t get rid of us that easy!” she yells, then cackles as people start chanting _Perrie Perrie Perrie_ back to them. “Okaaaaay, everybody! I think we have a job to do here!”

“We need your help!” Leigh calls from her other side. “We’re looking for a J someone, with chocolatey brown eyes. If you seem them, scream for us! We’ll send someone down to collect ‘em!”

“Let’s do this for Perrie!” Jade screeches, wrapping her arm around Perrie’s waist as a tear leaks out of her eye. “Oh, babe, don’t cry again!”

“I’m sorry,” Perrie half weeps, half giggles. “It’s just, this is such a big thing and I get to share it with so many people and I’m so happy and nervous – bloody terrified, really – and this is so…”

“Perrie, look!” Leigh shouts, seizing her by the shoulders and spinning her round to look over towards the left of the stage. “Security have her! She’s coming up here now. Oh my _god!”_

Perrie’s mouth drops open and she steps out of Leigh’s hold, walking towards the edge of the stage hurriedly because she has to _see._ By now she’d already made the assumption it was going to be a girl, but she isn’t fazed one bit. She pushes herself up on tiptoes and blinks against the harsh stage light, but she can’t see much more than the outline of her figure. She doesn’t look to be very tall, perhaps Perrie’s height at best, and she’s got long curly hair. That’s all she has to go on for a moment, but then the security team part the crowd and lead them through, and her breath hitches in her throat.

She’s _gorgeous,_ nothing short of one of the most beautiful girls Perrie’s ever seen. She’s wearing a khaki playsuit and knee high boots, hair curled and styled in waves across her shoulders. She has a few tattoos up her forearm that Perrie wants to know all about, and she’s got a stunning yet soft smile that Perrie wants to be the cause of. She’s infatuated.

The security team move forward and help the girl step up onto a chair to get her over the barrier, then suddenly she’s on the stage in front of Perrie, face breaking out into a wide yet nervous grin. Perrie grins back and bends down to put her microphone on the floor. She can’t help herself – she rushes forward and ploughs their bodies together, wrapping her arms around this girl’s shoulders and tucking her face into her neck. The embrace is immediately reciprocated and she nearly _cries_ as she feels arms wrap around her back, squeezing her tightly but gently. She’s warm – _so warm –_ and Perrie imagines that if she could smell she would smell like coming home.

“Hi,” she breathes into her ear after about twenty seconds of holding her. “Sorry it’s so loud.”

The girl giggles and pulls back, resting the back of her hand against Perrie’s cheek. “Hi,” she says, her accent coming out thick even on such a simple word, “fuck, it’s really you.”

“It’s really me,” Perrie chuckles. “You’re…?”

“Jesy,” the girls says quickly, then giggles some more. “Sorry, I forgot you wouldn’t know my name.”

Perrie’s insides are yelling at how fucking _cute_ this girl is. She’s been terrified for as long as she can remember about this moment, but Jesy is giggling and smiling and holding her tight like they’ve known each other years. It’s clearly meant to be.

“Jesy,” she repeats with a soft smile. “It suits you.”

“Thanks,” Jesy replies, and bloody hell, neither of them seem to be able to stop giggling and staring. After a second, Jesy seems to catch herself and she shakes her head a little. “Sorry. It’s just, you’re even more gorgeous up close.”

Perrie positively beams and tugs her in close again, cuddling her with everything that she has. She doesn’t want to stop touching her, probably ever, now she’s found her and she’s so caught up in holding her and cuddling her and pressing herself as close to her as possible that she’s completely forgotten where they are.

The crowd are chanting and screaming and clapping and stamping, the sound suddenly snapping Perrie back to earth. It’s so loud she’s not quite sure how she didn’t pick up on it before, but it’s Leigh’s voice of all peoples that jolts her. She reluctantly lets go of Jesy with one arm and signals with the other across her neck for her to knock it off.

Jesy’s giggling into her shoulder, and Perrie squeezes her waist briefly before she lets her go to pick up her microphone. “No!” she shouts into it, though she’s grinning as she says it. It’s a huge change in confidence in her, considering how intimidated the crowd made her feel earlier, but she’s laughing now and she’s on cloud fucking nine. “My first kiss with my soulmate is _not_ going to be in front of you greedy lot.” She turns to her bandmates. “And that includes you two!”

Jade and Leigh are both howling, arms wrapped around each other’s waists as they cackle and grin. “Oh, please,” Leigh drawls, but even from here Perrie can tell she’s only teasing. “Just a little one.”

“Leigh-Anne Pinnock,” Perrie says, pretending to be scandalised. “Get some decorum.”

“Yeah, Leigh,” Jade grins, kissing her soulmate soundly on the cheek, “ get some decorum.”

Leigh smirks. “I’ll tell you what, you guys,” she says, addressing the whole crowd this time. “We’ll play you five more songs, how does that sound?” The crowd whoops. “That does sound good, doesn’t it? You did come here to hear us sing, after all.”

Perrie’s brows furrow as she wanders back over to Jesy. Given the setlist, they’ve got another twelve or so songs left, but the crowd are eating it up and Leigh shoots her an easy but subtle wink across the stage.

Praise the lord for Leigh-Anne Pinnock.

“We’re all a bit over-excited by the sounds of things,” Jade continues. “So why don’t we slow it down for you all? Here’s _Little Me._ ”

“Hey,” Perrie murmurs hurriedly as the opening bars start to blare over the speakers. “Wait for me backstage, yeah?”

Jesy looks worried. “Am I allowed?”

“Of course,” Perrie says, then grins again. “Soulmate privileges and all. We can talk properly after.”

“I’d like that,” Jesy confesses. She stretches up and kisses Perrie on the cheek, and the crowd goes absolutely nuts. “Break a leg.”

“I don’t think I’d even care if I did,” Perrie says, using extreme self-control not to reach her hand up to touch the spot where Jesy just kissed her. “Wait for me, yeah?”

Jesy disappears off, and Perrie hurries to take her usual position to Jade’s left. She opens her mouth and starts belting out the chorus, shooting grateful smiles to both her beloved bandmates. It’s one of her favourite songs to sing so she happily immerses herself in it, enjoying the way Jade and Leigh gravitate towards her at the end to give her a big old cuddle.

The next four songs have accompanying dance numbers, so by the time they’ve finished with _Move_ Perrie is sweat-damp and panting. She gives the crowd a huge bow and blows them what feels close to a million kisses, waving and bowing and thanking them until they’re being directed off the stage. She turns her mic off at the bottom then thrusts it into Jade’s hands, running ahead of them so she can find Jesy again.

She misses her already, daft as that may seem.

She finds her in one of the dressing rooms, sitting on one of the plush little sofas as she toys on her phone. She drops it the second she sees Perrie though, and within seconds they’re hugging again, Perrie’s arms tight around her shoulders while Jesy places one hand on the back of her neck and tugs her in.

“Hi,” Jesy mumbles happily. “How was the rest of the show?”

“Good,” Perrie replies, taking a deep breath as she pulls back. “It felt super long but that’s okay. I’m here now.”

“You’re here now,” Jesy echoes. She smiles softly, leaning back a little to cup Perrie’s face. She’s staring, and Perrie knows she’s staring back. Her eyes rack along the whole of Jesy’s face, taking note of the little freckles and the tiny chicken pox scar and the small scratch on the corner of her cheek. Her gaze drifts up to her eyes and Jesy’s flick back to look at her, and they both giggle and knock their foreheads together in a rather cheesy manner when they both shrug and look embarrassed in sync.

“Sorry,” Perrie giggles, her eyes flitting down to Jesy’s smiling mouth. “It’s just… you’re beautiful. You’re beautiful and you’re _my_ soulmate.”

The flush in Jesy’s cheeks is lovely, and Perrie wants to kiss her. “You think you’re lucky?” Jesy asks, half teasing but also sounding half serious. “Can you imagine finding out your soulmate is your favourite member of the girlband you’ve been following since X Factor?” She lets out a nervous, breathy laugh. “When my necklace burned and then you read out my initials with my eye colour I thought I was gonna throw up.”

Perrie stares. “I was your favourite?” she can’t help but squeak. Jesy snorts.

“You still are,” she says teasingly. “No, but really, I thought I was going to be sick or something. My friends have teased me for years about my crush on you and the initial on my necklace.”

“Great friends,” Perrie grins. Her face suddenly drops. “Oh, god. You know I wasn’t, like, running away from you earlier, right?”

Jesy looks rather confused. “When? On stage?”

Perrie nods hurriedly. “Yes, then. _God,_ I was so scared you were going to hate me, or I wouldn’t find you, or I was going to react wrong in front of all those people?”

Jesy’s brows furrow and she moves back, gently cupping the back of Perrie’s neck with a soft hand. “Shit, no, babe, I would have done the exact same. There were sooo many people in that crowd and you looked, like, as overwhelmed as I felt. Jesus Christ, I wanted to run as well.” Perrie tries to pretend her heart doesn’t sink at that but her face probably gives her away, because Jesy’s eyes suddenly go wide and she shakes her head wildly. “Not… _no,_ babe, not like that. It was just, like, it was _you…_ you, the girl I’ve been half in love with since I first heard you sing and then you’re my _soulmate?_ That was honestly terrifying!”

Perrie relaxes and her body goes a little more lax in Jesy’s hold. “You’re not, like, intimidated by me now, are you?”

Jesy blushes again, shrugging her shoulders. “A little,” she admits, but she’s grinning as she says it. “But you’re, like, beautiful and easy-going and this feels, like, completely natural. Do you not think?”

“I do,” Perrie says softly, cuddling back into Jesy again and brushing her lips over her soft cheek. “God, I’m so glad it was you. I’m so glad you’re my soulmate.”

“I’m so glad I found you again,” Jesy mumbles, then freezes. Perrie’s eyes fly open and she pulls back, realisation hitting her like a tonne of bricks.

“Oh, shit,” she exclaims. “Did you try out for the X Factor my year?”

Jesy nods, looking embarrassed. “Yeah,” she tells her. “I didn’t get through though. They didn’t think I had a strong enough voice.”

“Bet that’s rubbish,” Perrie says indignantly, despite the fact she’s never heard her sing. “Bet your voice is amazing.”

Jesy shrugs. “Meh, I’m over it. I like my life now.” She grins. “Got a wonderful job _and_ a popstar soulmate, whose voice could possibly rival that of an angel’s and who is really bloody lovely, really. Things are pretty great.” She brushes a stray strand of hair from Perrie’s eyes. “I can’t wait to get to know you properly.”

Perrie beams, and then leans in to kiss her. Their lips meet in the middle and there’s nothing big or revelatory to it – no fireworks or explosions, just two people destined to be together finally kissing each other like Perrie’s been dreaming of since she was a little girl. Her necklace sits hot against her chest, but it’s nothing like the heat of Jesy’s lips, the strong hold she has on Perrie’s waist and the gentle brush of their noses together. There doesn’t need to be a big moment when it’s this easy.

“Wow,” Perrie whispers, mostly to herself, as she pulls back. “Wow.”

“Wow indeed,” Jesy says. It sounds a little like she’s panting. “That was…”

“Do you wanna come back to mine?” Perrie blurts, then winces as her cheeks go bright red. “Not for… well, um, I mean.” She sighs. “I wanna keep doing that, but not here when anyone could walk in. I wanna…”

“Yes, please,” Jesy says, and she’s grinning so brightly that Perrie wants to kiss her and never stop. “I want to kiss you and get to know you and…” She pauses, eyes going wide. “Oh, shit, I get to go inside Perrie Edwards’s home. I get to _kiss_ Perrie Edwards.”

Perrie grins and kisses her again. “You might even get to see Perrie Edwards’s bed if you play your cards right.”

Jesy throws her head back and cackles, and it’s ugly-beautiful and completely perfect. “I can’t wait,” she murmurs, resting their foreheads together again. “Let’s go?”

So they leave, saying brief goodbyes to the girls and the team, then hop in a car. Perrie texts her mum and books a hotel for her on her phone, feeling only a little guilty about wanting the house to herself.

 _Found my soulmate xx_ is all she sends. Two minutes later, her mum replies.

_Knew u wud. Il be out ur hair in half n hour. Be safe, cant wait 2 meet them xx_

Perrie smiles as she pockets her phone, then rests her head on Jesy’s shoulder for the remainder of the drive.

They talk for hours on Perrie’s huge sofa, sharing a bottle of wine and then endless cups of tea, discussing everything and anything from siblings to careers to favourite films to childhood memories. They fall asleep tangled together on the sofa, one of the big fluffy blankets she keeps on her armchair draped over their legs.

She wakes up with Jesy pressed up against her back, the belt to her playsuit pressed almost painfully into the dip of her back. Her body is radiating a lovely, comforting warmth, and Perrie snuggles into it, nodding off again easily as she thinks, “ _I could get very, very used to this._ ”

Well done, universe. Well done.


End file.
